DETROIT -- The UAW is negotiating the possible elimination of its controversial jobs bank and is considering other concessions to help Detroit's automakers win low-cost loans from Congress, people familiar with negotiations said late Thursday.

Union officers from several locals said they did not know if the concession had been made but expected the jobs bank to be ended as part of a package of shared sacrifice when the automakers and UAW President Ron Gettelfinger return to Congress early next month. The jobs bank pays laid-off workers, sometimes for years.

The disclosure came after Congress kicked back the cash-starved U.S. automakers' urgent pitch for a $25-billion rescue Thursday, saying executives failed to convince lawmakers and the public that the industry knew how to fix itself.

Democratic leaders demanded that automakers submit plans by Dec. 2 for how the loans might be used to transform them into viable companies, promising to bring Congress back into session Dec. 8 if the plans measure up -- a dangerously short time frame for two automakers who may run out of cash before paying bills in January.

But lawmakers also warned Detroit that the auto executives had damaged their cause during hearings this week, from balking at providing too many details to not taking responsibility for their mistakes and asking for government money while flying in corporate jets.

"The auto companies have not been able to convince Congress or the American people that this government bailout will be their last," said Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid, D-Nev.

Added House Speaker Nancy Pelosi, D-Calif.: "Until automakers show us the plan, we cannot show them the money."

Detroit's automakers quickly agreed to provide as much information in a plan for survival as Democratic leaders wanted, provided there are some guidelines on confidential details. But it's unclear what criteria Congress will use to judge the plans.

"We will be glad to do that," General Motors Corp. Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Rick Wagoner said in an interview Thursday. "We obviously have such a plan and have, over recent times, had a chance to share them."

Ford Motor Co. said it "welcomes the opportunity to provide our plan to Congress." Chrysler LLC said it is prepared to meet the "accountability and viability" criteria set by congressional leaders.

The move by Reid and Pelosi short-circuited a bipartisan compromise driven by Michigan's two senators that they said could have passed the Senate on Thursday. But Democratic leaders said no bill could pass either chamber without more explanations from the industry.

The deal by Michigan Sens. Carl Levin and Debbie Stabenow, both Democrats, along with Sen. Christopher Bond, R-Mo., and others, would use the $25 billion set aside by Congress in September for retooling auto plants over the next several years and lend it to automakers immediately.

Levin said while the delay was risky to the industry, the leaders had taken it upon themselves to aid automakers, and that the compromise would likely be the starting point for Congress' debate in December.

"I'm encouraged the leaders are now taking this issue on, and they're committed ... to making sure this industry survives," Levin said. "Now this is right smack in Congress' lap."

The decision ended a historic week for Detroit's automakers and the UAW, who are suffering from the worst economic conditions in decades and rapidly running out of cash. GM and Chrysler both have warned of imminent collapse without government help, while Ford has said that it could be toppled by a breakdown at a competitor.

Despite hours of questioning Tuesday and Wednesday, and a constant drumbeat of up to 3 million lost jobs if the industry should collapse, automakers appeared to have lost as many votes as they won, if not more.

Reid twice noted Thursday the decision by the chief executives to fly corporate jets to their hearing, and emphasized he favored a bailout to save autoworkers' jobs.

Other senators questioned whether the industry needed three automakers and whether bankruptcy wasn't still an option. Auto executives maintain that any bankruptcy would inevitably lead to dissolving the firm and thousands of lost jobs.

"I was really struck by the lack of coherence," said Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. "I was, in some ways, embarrassed for them. They had no plan."

Sen. Chris Dodd, D-Conn., said: "There was a failure to appreciate that there was no likelihood of them getting a check for $25 billion, no questions asked." Dodd, along with Rep. Barney Frank, D-Mass., will review the industry's submissions. "There's a clear need for a much more concrete vision and plan for this industry and how it's going to survive."

During this week's hearings, members of Congress said they would want to see shared sacrifice at all levels, from hourly workers to executives. The jobs bank, derided as paying people not to work, is oft-criticized as an example of what's wrong with the U.S. auto industry.

At a news conference at the UAW's headquarters in Detroit on Thursday, Gettelfinger would not say whether the union would be willing to give up the jobs bank if required by Congress as a condition of a loan bailout.

When UAW autoworkers are laid off, they receive a combination of unemployment benefits and supplemental pay from their employer for 48 weeks. If they remain laid off beyond that, they move to the jobs bank, where the company provides about 95% of their pay and benefits. Until the most recent contract, people could remain in the jobs bank for years.

Congress' decision to put the industry's future under a microscope raises the question of how willing Congress will be to second-guess the business judgments of Detroit automakers. Frank said that meeting fuel-economy targets would have to be a central part of any outlook, but such technologies often cost money to put into place.

Take the Chevrolet Volt. GM has preserved the extended-range electric vehicle from its other cuts in vehicle development, saying the Volt was too important to delay from its 2010 target. Yet GM also has suggested that the Volt would be sold at a loss for some time, and that the losses were acceptable to establish GM as a technological leader.

Dodd said he and Frank had not established any standards for judging an automaker's business plan, but indicated that he would not simply take it at its word. He also warned that $25 billion was the ceiling, and that the final number could be less.

"The industry submitting a plan is not going to be enough to me," Dodd said. "I'm going to be very involved in talking to people about what ought to be part of a plan."

Democratic leaders said the Levin compromise came too late to pass Congress this week, after industry backers could not garner enough support to peel $25 billion from the $700-billion financial industry bailout.

The Bush administration opposed such a move, favoring the use of $25 billion approved by Congress in September to retool plants for more efficient vehicles.

Reid and Pelosi said there had been no decision yet on where the money would come from if Congress came back.

The White House criticized the delay Thursday.

"I can't imagine a scenario where they wouldn't come back, unless the answer is that they just don't care," said White House spokeswoman Dana Perino. "And if that's the case, then the American people ought to know that."

Levin said the compromise still would serve as the starting point for debate in December, but warned, along with Reid, that automakers would need to make a better case -- despite the projections of looming disaster -- than they have so far.

"We want them to get their act together," Reid said. "We are here to help."